Peroxynitrite-activated fluorescent probe with two reaction triggers for pathological diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation of inflammation.

Excessive peroxynitrite (ONOO-) is closely related to the occurrence and progression of inflammation. Therefore, the development of an efficacious ONOO- activatable probe holds great potential for the early diagnosis of pathological inflammation, and the direct evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of active protectants. In this work, a new ONOO--activated fluorescent probe (SZP) which greatly improved the specificity and sensitivity (LOD = 8.03 nM) with large Stokes shift (150 nm) through introducing two reaction triggers (diphenyl phosphinate moiety, CC unsaturated bond) was rationally designed for rapid detecting ONOO- (within 2 min). The excellent properties of probe SZP enable it to realize the fluorescence-guided diagnosis of inflammation. More importantly, probe SZP has also been utilized to assess the anti-inflammatory efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) active ingredients for the remediation of inflammation by monitoring ONOO- fluctuation for the first time.

Emerging perfluoroalkyl substances retard skeletal growth by accelerating osteoblasts senescence via ferroptosis.

Due to the persistent nature and significant negative impacts of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) on human health and other organisms, the emergence of new PFOA alternatives, such as perfluoro (2-methyl-3-oxhexanoic) acid (GenX) and perfluoro-3,6,9-trioxyundecanoic acid (PFO3TDA), have drawn significant attention. However, the toxic effects of PFOA and its substitutes on bones remain limited. In this study, we administered different concentrations of PFOA, GenX, and PFO3TDA via gavage to 3-week-old male BALB/C mice for four weeks. X-ray and micro-CT scans revealed shortening of the femur and tibia and significant reduction in bone density. Additionally, PFOA, GenX, and PFO3TDA promoted osteoblast senescence and impaired osteogenic capabilities. This was characterized by a decrease in the expression of osteogenesis-related genes (OCN, ALP, Runx2, etc.) and an increase in the expression of aging and inflammation-related factors (p16INK4a, P21, MMP3, etc). Furthermore, RNA sequencing revealed activation of the ferroptosis pathway in PFOA-treated osteoblasts, characterized by notable lipid peroxidation and excessive iron accumulation. Finally, by inhibiting the ferroptosis pathway with ferrostatin-1 (Fer-1), we effectively alleviated the senescence of MC3T3-E1 cells treated with PFOA, GenX, and PFO3TDA, and improved their osteogenic capabilities. Therefore, our study provides a new therapeutic insight into the impact of PFOA and its substitutes on bone growth and development.

[Microwave Heartprint: A novel non-contact human identification technology based on cardiac micro-motion detection using ultra wideband bio-radar].

The existing one-time identity authentication technology cannot continuously guarantee the legitimacy of user identity during the whole human-computer interaction session, and often requires active cooperation of users, which seriously limits the availability. This study proposes a new non-contact identity recognition technology based on cardiac micro-motion detection using ultra wideband (UWB) bio-radar. After the multi-point micro-motion echoes in the range dimension of the human heart surface area were continuously detected by ultra wideband bio-radar, the two-dimensional principal component analysis (2D-PCA) was exploited to extract the compressed features of the two-dimensional image matrix, namely the distance channel-heart beat sampling point (DC-HBP) matrix, in each accurate segmented heart beat cycle for identity recognition. In the practical measurement experiment, based on the proposed multi-range-bin & 2D-PCA feature scheme along with two conventional reference feature schemes, three typical classifiers were selected as representatives to conduct the heart beat identification under two states of normal breathing and breath holding. The results showed that the multi-range-bin & 2D-PCA feature scheme proposed in this paper showed the best recognition effect. Compared with the optimal range-bin & overall heart beat feature scheme, our proposed scheme held an overall average recognition accuracy of 6.16% higher (normal respiration: 6.84%; breath holding: 5.48%). Compared with the multi-distance unit & whole heart beat feature scheme, the overall average accuracy increase was 27.42% (normal respiration: 28.63%; breath holding: 26.21%) for our proposed scheme. This study is expected to provide a new method of undisturbed, all-weather, non-contact and continuous identification for authentication.

Effect of n-C-S-H on Hydration and Reinforcement of Mineral Powder-Cement System at Low Temperatures.

This paper investigated the effect of nano-calcium silicate hydrate (n-C-S-H) on the early compressive strength of mineral powder-cement systems under low-temperature curing conditions (5 °C). The hydration mechanism of n-C-S-H in the mineral powder-cement system at different dosages was analyzed by combining it with XRD, DSC-TG, MIP, and other techniques. The results show that n-C-S-H significantly enhances the early compressive strength of the mineral powder-cement system under low-temperature curing conditions, with optimal results observed at a dosage of 1.0% (mass fraction). The XRD, DSC-TG, and MIP tests reveal that n-C-S-H promotes the hydration of the mineral powder cement, accelerates the generation rate of hydration products, reduces the porosity of the hardened mineral powder-cement slurry, and improves the system's density.

A Multiple-Fidelity Method for Accurate Simulation of MoS2 Properties Using JAX-ReaxFF and Neural Network Potentials.

Reactive force field (ReaxFF) is a commonly used force field for modeling chemical reactions at the atomic level. Recently, JAX-ReaxFF, combined with automatic differentiation, has been used to efficiently parametrize ReaxFF. However, its analytical formula may lead to inaccurate predictions. While neural network-based potentials (NNPs) trained on density functional theory-labeled data offer a more accurate method, it requires a large amount of training data to be trained from scratch. To overcome these issues, we present a multiple-fidelity method that combines JAX-ReaxFF and NNP and apply the method on MoS2, a promising two-dimensional semiconductor for flexible electronics. By incorporating implicit prior physical information, ReaxFF can serve as a cost-effective way to generate pretraining data, facilitating more accurate simulations of MoS2. Moreover, in the Mo-S-H system, the pretraining strategy can reduce root-mean-square errors of energy by 20%. This approach can be extended to a wide variety of material systems, accelerating their computational research.

Impacts of fertilization methods on Salvia miltiorrhiza quality and characteristics of the epiphytic microbial community.

Plant epiphytic microorganisms have established a unique symbiotic relationship with plants, which has a significant impact on their growth, immune defense, and environmental adaptation. However, the impact of fertilization methods on the epiphytic microbial community and their correlation with the yield and quality of medicinal plant was still unclear. In current study, we conducted a field fertilization experiment and analyzed the composition of epiphytic bacterial and fungal communities employing high throughput sequencing data in different organs (roots, stems, and leaves) of Salvia miltiorrhiza, as well as their correlation with plant growth. The results showed that fertilization significantly affected the active ingredients and hormone content, soil physicochemical properties, and the composition of epiphytic microbial communities. After fertilization, the plant surface was enriched with a core microbial community mainly composed of bacteria from Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria, as well as fungi from Zygomycota and Ascomycota. Additionally, plant growth hormones were the principal factors leading to alterations in the epiphytic microbial community of S. miltiorrhiza. Thus, the most effective method of fertilization involved the application of base fertilizer in combination with foliar fertilizer. This study provides a new perspective for studying the correlation between microbial community function and the quality of S. miltiorrhiza, and also provides a theoretical basis for the cultivation and sustainable development of high-quality medicinal plants.